


Insomnia

by Lavender_Persimmon305



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Insomnia, Love In the Shatterdome, Pre-Romance, Shatterdome sleeplessness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-21 18:36:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/903522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavender_Persimmon305/pseuds/Lavender_Persimmon305
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a little ficlet for my friend TheBatchild's wip au 'Pacific Rim' fic. Her character Elissa Jayden (EJ as Raleigh has dubbed her), is a Jaeger Tech mechanic. She accompanied her father as a teenager to The Icebox and the Jaeger Academy, the two of them working with both facilities. She became friends with the Becket Boys while there, and was also there to help work on Gipsy Danger.</p>
<p> Raleigh, because of his ptsd, is an insomniac, and he has a fondness for World War II movies and history, hence Gipsy's name, which is drawn from the DeHavilland Gipsy engine that was used for planes in WW2. (this is actually canon, re: Guillermo del Toro)</p>
<p>This takes place years later, after the two had lost touch after Yancy's death, at the Hong Kong Shatterdome.</p>
<p>Raleigh can't sleep and EJ needs to wind down after working on Gipsy.</p>
<p>No, this is not a booty call.</p>
<p>Hey Mako, read this fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Insomnia

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheBatchild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBatchild/gifts).



EJ rubbed her eyes as she walked down the corridor, the shatterdome quiet in the late hour. There were some people still up, she knew, since she'd waved goodnight to them after leaving the repair bays and heading to her own quarters.

The hallways were darkened, only a few wall sconces lit for safety, so the glow of light from the peephole on Raleigh's door was brighter than it normally would have been during the day.

She frowned, pausing, then turned and gently tapped her spanner on the metal portal, the sound chiming in the dark.

Raleigh opened the door, his hair mussed and he was clothed in soft cotton pajama pants and a rumpled t-shirt, but his eyes were alert. "EJ. What're you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same thing?" she returned, her brows drawn together in concern. "I was just double-checking some of Gipsy's systems. You okay?"

He sniffed out a chuckle, and she could hear the bitter humor in it, Becket opening the door a little wider to let her come in. He shut it behind her, Elissa staring at the amount of light in his room. 

His computer was on, the television was playing with the volume turned down, most of the lights were on, and she could hear the tinny sounds of his portable music player's earbuds from where they lay on his desk.

"I don't sleep much anymore," he admitted, picking up a mug of juice and drinking it, his fingers threaded through the handle around the cup.

She folded her arms, watching him as he folded his sweater from earlier that day and tucked it into a bureau, the room almost painfully clean. "Did you talk to Beth or any of the other docs for some help?"

Raleigh snorted, though it wasn't meant to be unkind. "They can't help. They've tried. It's just me," he shrugged.

EJ sighed and set her toolbox down by the door then toed off her workboots and crossed to pick up the t.v. remote. "Well, d'you mind if I hang out with you for a little bit? My brain's still a little too wired from the calculations, so I'd appreciate the company while it winds down."

He smiled, the movement crinkling his cheek beneath the stubble on his jaw. "Sure, I'll sit with you."

They moved to his couch, a surprisingly comfortable piece that he'd picked up at the market and hauled back with Tendo's help, Raleigh lowering the lamplight a bit before he sat.

EJ shrugged out of the top of her coveralls and tied the sleeves around her waist, a soft cotton thermal underneath that had patches from the Academy and the Icebox sewn on the sleeve, then slumped back on the couch, propping her feet on the seat of it. "'Saving Private Ryan'?" she asked, gesturing at the screen with the remote and Raleigh grunted an affirmative as he reached back and retrieved a throw blanket for her.

She was forever getting cold and she grinned that he remembered it as he tossed it over her knees before settling down.

She would have thought that the chatter of both script and weaponry would keep her awake, but it had been a grueling day and it finally caught up with her. She muffled a yawn with her hand, smiling sleepily when she felt Raleigh's arm crook over her head, then slide behind her shoulders so he could tuck her against him.

"Damn, shoulda used you as a heated power source for Gipsy," she mumbled, nudging her shoulder against his side to get comfortable, the rumble of his laughter against her arm felt more than heard below the movie.

"Yeah, but who'd you get to drive 'er if it wasn't me?" he countered, propping his own foot on the couch and resting his forearm loosely on his knee, the other leg stretched out.

EJ yawned again, setting the remote down and folding her arms under the blanket. "Tendo 'n me'd do it," she smirked, the expression turning into a grin while her eyes closed and Raleigh laughed outright.

"The Pixie and The King," he teased, looking down when she didn't snark back at him, his breath ghosting out affectionately when he realised she'd fallen asleep. He reached around her carefully and picked up the remote to lower the volume, her head resting on his shoulder once he stopped moving.

Raleigh smiled softly, watching the blue glow of the screen flicker over her features, and he yawned, the staccato of a machine gun fading as he fell asleep.


End file.
